Motorist gets 90 days for deadly hit-and-run on Staten Island

Advance file photoIbraim Qoku, 20, center, is escorted to a court appearance after his arrest last year.

A Brooklyn man was sentenced today to 90 days in jail and five years' probation for leaving the scene of a fatal accident in Staten Island's Grasmere community last year that took the life of a mother of four.

Qoku, a construction worker, was coming from a job on Renwick Avenue, Sunnyside. He was driving his brother's Mercedes-Benz coupe on Hylan Boulevard near West Fingerboard Road at about 7:50 p.m. when a "car to the left" startled him with a "screech" and caused him to veer from its path.

In expressing remorse then, he told the court he failed to stop because he was scared and had panicked.

"I looked back and I saw a lady struggling. But I was already two blocks away," he said. "I'm very, very sorry."

Under his top-count plea, Qoku faced a maximum of seven years; however, prosecutors recommended one to three years behind bars. By the same token, he could have been sentenced to a three-year conditional discharge and been spared jail all together.

In court today, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Blum called Qoku's actions "cowardly," said prosecutors. Blum said Qoku surrendered to authorities the day after the crash only after being pressured by his parents. Because he did not turn himself in immediately, he could not be tested for alcohol or drugs.

At Qoku's plea proceeding, Justice Leonard P. Rienzi said he would review pre-sentence reports from the city Probation Department before deciding whether to send Qoku to jail.

Qoku has no prior criminal history, but has a number of moving violations and an accident with injury on his driving record, according to state Department of Motor Vehicle records.
-- Reported by Frank Donnelly